Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to take part in this adjournment debate and to express my concern about the future of the employment insurance program.
Last week, the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development clearly stated that employment insurance was a rich and worthwhile program for workers. However, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development denied that he had made any such comments. Clearly, the minister is not aware of the reality of the unemployed. The minister and the government are insensitive to the plight of Canadians who have to apply for employment insurance to support their families. Perhaps the minister should come to our regions to see for himself what these workers' lives are like.
Contrary to what he thinks, people who receive employment insurance benefits are by no means well-off. In fact, these people have to support their families on next to nothing. We need to remember that family expenses include groceries, rent, mortgage payments, insurance, car payments, hydro, phone service and much more.
The Conservative government's ideology is of no help to seasonal workers and unemployed Canadians faced with this reality. If the minister still insists that employment insurance is a rich program, can he tell us how he would support his family on so little money?
The Conservative government has done absolutely nothing to help the economy of Atlantic Canada. On the contrary, it has imposed major cuts to economic development programs. We have learned just recently that more than $15 million will be slashed from the ACOA budget. The government ought to be investing in the Atlantic provinces instead, in order to ensure that the same employment opportunities are available to all. I cannot say that this has surprised me, on the contrary. After all, the government in power has a regional development strategy that seems to be nothing but a forced relocation strategy, with no addressing of the employment insurance issue.
Last week, the minister described the EI program as rich and generous to workers., and I do not want to go into the comments made by the parliamentary secretary. I would like to know which workers are being enriched by EI. What they should be saying instead is that not one worker is enriched by such a program. Does the minister still believe that employment insurance is enriching for the workers? That is my question.
I certainly hope that the government will be in a position to say instead that it wants to improve the EI situation and the lot of workers, in order to provide help to those who need it the most. Does the minister still maintain that the program is a rich program for workers?